7 Questions With Photographer, Chris Hornbecker

If you've been following our Instagram this past week, you might have noticed the incredible series of images created by our friend and Portland photographer, Chris Hornbecker -- He's been sharing his 'Summer In The City' visions.

Chris comes with an amazing body of work and experience. Aside from collaborating with the likes of Nike, Adidas, The Portland Timbers and Hurley, he finds times to capture moments with every day strangers. Part of what makes Chris's pictures so engaging is how he creates larger than life moments from things our eyes sometimes overlook.

We sat down with Chris and talked about music, photography and keeping his craft honest.

M: Who are you and what do you do in the world?

CH: My name is Chris Hornbecker and I'm a commercial and editorial photographer enjoying life and chasing two kids in Portland and up and down the west coast, while making things with what little spare time I have. I've had the pleasure of working with amazing people all over the world from pro athletes to celebrities to everyday people with fascinating stories throughout this journey in this incredible photo industry.

M: Why Photography?

Photography gives me a way to capture those small fleeting moments that have a kernel of honesty, A feeling that you recognize something about that person or place. Always trying to find a different perspective with a connection that draws you in for a closer look. It's capturing these moments and places that drew me into photography. My project 1millimeter.com is a good example of the places that were inspiring me to capture the world around me.

M: What does a typical day on a project look like?

CH: Well I wish I could say it was running around finding locations and shooting all day but a huge part of photography as a business is all the time working in front of a computer, editing files, working on estimates , emailing clients, backing up archives, communicating with my rep, basically all the tedious stuff that makes the gears and cogs of the business run.

M: What makes for a successful shoot?

CH: A good attitude, a fun environment, adventurous spirits and gut instincts. When everyone is onboard for whatever comes, being open to shifting with the opportunities that present themselves, sometimes that thing you were looking for is not where you thought it was and you need to go find it. All that and Music, that's one of the nice things about still shoots is that you can adjust your playlist to where and who you're working with to help get what you're trying to get out of the shoot.

M: Any horror stories on the job?

CH: There are no real horror stories just opportunities to experience and learn from and a chance to take a whole new approach. I've worked some really hard professions in the past and I feel amazingly blessed to be able to make a living with one of my passions. I always say that even my most challenging difficult worst day is someone else's absolute dream job. That being said I could do without those occasional 18 hour days.

M: What's the most recent album you've listened to?

CH: Lately I've been listening to a lot of Oddisee, K-OS, Chiddy Bang, and Ashreu and Blue Black of The Unspoken Heard, and I've been chilling out to Vulfpeck and Tommy Guerrero. The last album that I've listened all the way straight through was Al Wilson - Show and Tell.

M: What's on the horizon for you as an artist?

CH: I'm working on some interesting collaborations that I'm pretty excited about and I'm trying to line up some more so I can start knocking ideas off of my to do list. I like the collaborative process of bouncing concepts back and forth, refining and remixing the ideas. I'm alway open to starting these conversations with people so we'll have to see what happens in the future.